Wednesday, a packed house saw “Metamorphoses” on Pay-What-You-Can-Night.
The students, along with the rest of the more than 270 people in the
building, gave the show a standing ovation.

Zimmerman’s 2002 Broadway hit borrows from about a dozen Greek
myths in Ovid’s epic poem, “Metamorphoses.” Ovid
was born 43 B.C. and died sometime A.D. in exile. His smarty pants,
sophisticated work has lost little over the centuries...

This scene with Eros and his lover, Psyche, pales, however, to Rebecca
Buller and Nick Erickson as Myrrha cursed by Aphrodite with lust for
Myrra’s father, Cinyras.

Buller does some physically demanding acting with grace and control
that make the scene all the more horrifying.

Derek Mudd, playing Midas as we might expect to see the man with the
golden touch making a pitch to the Downtown Development District,
is good. He’s funny, suave, flawed and convincing as the father
who unintentionally turns his daughter into a golden statue. Buller,
as the daughter, again shines. She’s used to good advantage
in another physically demanding scene as “Hunger,” who’s
been inflicted upon Erysichthon (Erickson).

This is audience participation theater whether the audience wants
to participate or not. A 30-foot by 16-foot, 4,000-gallon swimming
pool is the dominant feature in Nels Anderson’s set.

In the Erysichthon scene, Erickson turns Gallagher. People on the
front rows of the three-bank theater get wet. If you sit down front,
stick a poncho in your back pocket.

The
production team was thrilled to receive the following message from
Artistic Director Michael Tick:

"It was incredibly exciting for Kristin
and me to accept the 2006 Governor's Arts Award on behalf of Swine
Palace.

Derek Gordon, who was the master of ceremonies,
assisted by Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu could not have been more
gracious and complimentary in their support. Gordon actually broke
from his script to plug METAMORPHOSES, which he told me he enjoyed
much more than the New York production."